Tag: police shooting

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Former Louisville Detective Charged But Not For Killing Breonna Taylor

Deceased ER tech Breonna Taylor (AFP/Getty Images/Fair Use)
A former Louisville police detective has been indicted by a grand jury in connection with the late-night police shooting which led to the death of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor. But the officer wasn’t charged with killing Taylor. From the New York Times:

A grand jury indicted a former Louisville police detective on Wednesday for endangering Breonna Taylor’s neighbors by recklessly firing his gun during a raid on her apartment in March. No officer was charged with killing Ms. Taylor.

Grand jurors indicted Brett Hankison, the former detective, on three counts of “wanton endangerment,” saying he had threatened three people’s lives by firing bullets that traveled through Ms. Taylor’s apartment and into theirs. A pregnant woman, her husband and their 5-year-old child were asleep in that apartment, and the bullets shattered a glass door but did not harm the couple and their child.

Mr. Hankison had fired into the sliding glass patio door and window of Ms. Taylor’s apartment building, both of which were covered with blinds, in violation of a department policy that requires officers to have a line of sight.

He is the only one of the three officers who was dismissed from the force, with a termination letter stating that he showed “an extreme indifference to the value of human life.”

The Times notes that several legal experts had theorized the officers wouldn’t be indicted for Taylor’s death since it was her boyfriend who fired his gun first when the cops entered the apartment without apparently announcing who they were under a ‘no-knock’ warrant. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer announced a 72-hour countywide curfew beginning at 9 pm in anticipation of protests. Taylor’s family agreed to a $12 million settlement last week.

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Louisville Officials Agree To $12 Million Settlement With Family Of Breonna Taylor

Deceased emergency room tech Breonna Taylor (AFP/Getty Images/Fair Use)
City officials in Louisville, Kentucky, have agreed to a $12 million settlement with the family of Breonna Taylor,  a young Black woman who was killed by white police officers during a botched drug raid. The officers were barged through the front door of Taylor’s apartment while executing a ‘no-knock’ warrant in the middle of the night as Taylor and her boyfriend were in bed.  No drugs were found on the premises. The city has also announced plans to From the New York Times:

The settlement of a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by relatives of Ms. Taylor, a young Black woman killed by white officers in a botched drug raid six months ago, is expected to be announced Tuesday by the family’s legal team and city officials, according to those briefed on the agreement.

Besides the multimillion-dollar settlement, among the highest to be awarded in a police killing in recent years, the city has also agreed to institute a number of changes in policing. They will impose more scrutiny on officers during the execution of search warrants, like the one that precipitated the death of Ms. Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, and make mandatory safeguards that were common practice in the department but were not followed the night of the March 13 raid.

Ms. Taylor died after her boyfriend said he mistook police officers for an intruder, as they rammed in the door of her apartment after midnight to execute a search warrant. He fired his handgun, striking one of the officers, setting off a response in which a torrent of bullets sliced through Ms. Taylor’s apartment and two adjoining ones, leaving her bleeding in her hallway.

There was no effort to render her aid, as the officers outside scrambled to get an ambulance for the wounded officer.

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Video: Kenosha Police Shoot Black Man 7 Times In The Back

An 18-year-old man in Jamaica is in critical condition after being ambushed in a fake dating app hookup where he was robbed, had his penis partially severed and set on fire.

Multiple reports this morning that Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, was shot in the back 7 times by police after he broke up a fight between two women. In a video clip shot from across the street, you can see Blake walking away from police and attempting to get in his SUV where his three small children were when the officer grabs Blake’s t-shirt and begins shooting. From CBS News:

A large crowd of protesters gathered following the police shooting of a Black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Sunday. He was identified by Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers as Jacob Blake. The county declared a state of emergency overnight curfew, according to CBS Milwaukee affiliate WDJT-TV.

The man was transported to the hospital in serious condition, according to police. His father said on Facebook that his son is alive and in stable condition. Family friend Daniel Poneman tweeted that Blake is out of surgery, in the ICU and is “expected to make it.”

Graphic video that purportedly shows the shooting began circulating on social media. The video, which appears to have been taken from across the street, shows the man walking around an SUV as police yell at him with weapons drawn, with one officer closely following him.

As the man opens the driver-side door of the vehicle, the officer grabs the back of the man’s shirt and appears to fire several shots into the man’s back. At least seven shots are heard in the video, but it was unclear how many officers fired.

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News Round-Up: July 13, 2020

Jwan Yosef (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • ManCrush Monday: That time when Ricky Martin’s other half, Jwan Yosef (above), showed off his ‘baby lifting arms.’ #dang • Gold Derby: Openly gay former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg has been entered for Emmy consideration in the category of Best Comedy Guest Actor for his guest-hosting stint on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” • CNN: The body of former GLEE actress Naya Rivera, 33, who was missing since Wednesday, has been found floating in a Southern California lake. Rivera’s role on GLEE gave queer Puerto Rican representation to millions. She is the third original GLEE cast member to die. In 2013, Cory Monteith died of a drug overdose and Mark Stalling committed suicide in 2018 after being found guilty of possessing child porn. • TheaterMania: Hamilton has become the first cast recording to reach the top two on the Billboard 200 albums chart since 1969 thanks to the musical’s premiere on Disney+. In 1969, the original cast recording of Hair spent 13 weeks in the no. 1 slot. Hamilton had previously peaked in the no. 3 position back in 2016, tying with The Book of Mormon. • Miami Herald: Florida resident Joseph Fucheck is facing criminal charges for waving a pistol at a Black homeowner in North Miami-Dade while claiming to be a 35-year Navy SEAL veteran. Except – it was a decades-old lie perpetrated by Fucheck. The Navy SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce, which maintains paperwork for all SEALs since World War II, has no record of him. • CBS17: An Arkansas police officer told a colleague he would ‘shoot any protesters’ who might come to his door. But Calvin Salyers, 33, has now been charged with manslaughter after shooting through his door on June 3 killing a fellow police officer who dropped by to pick up a patrol car. • Podcast of the Day: A podcast about gay TV,  Gayest Episode Ever, explores LGBT+ themed one-off episodes that classic sitcoms (like The Golden Girls, Frasier, and Cheers) would do back in the day when it was rare to see queer characters represented on broadcast television. The podcast – hosted by Drew Mackie, a journalist, and Glen Lakin, a screenwriter – offers insight into the evolution of queer visibility, gay rights, and how culture can both affect — and BE affected by — what we see on TV. The episode below dissects a 1977 episode of Maude when Bea Arthur’s title character argued with her neighbor Arthur over the opening of a gay bar in town.

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Atlanta Police Officer Faces 11 Charges In Murder Of Rayshard Brooks

Former Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe (via Atlanta Police Dept)
From the New York Times:

A former Atlanta police officer was charged on Wednesday with murder and aggravated assault in the killing last week of a black motorist outside a fast-food restaurant, and prosecutors revealed chilling new details of the late-night encounter, including that the officer kicked the dying man after shooting him twice in the back.

The former officer, Garrett Rolfe, faces a total of 11 charges in connection with the death of the motorist, Rayshard Brooks. The shooting, which was captured on a widely circulated video, has prompted the resignation of Atlanta’s police chief and further inflamed the tensions over race and policing that are roiling the nation.

At a news conference on Wednesday to announce the charges, prosecutors said that Mr. Rolfe declared, “I got him,” after firing the fatal shots at Mr. Brooks. Mr. Rolfe kicked the victim, prosecutors said, while his partner stood on the fatally wounded man’s shoulder.

Mr. Rolfe and his partner, Devin Brosnan, both of whom are white, then failed to render aid for more than two minutes, said Paul L. Howard Jr., the Fulton County district attorney.

Brosnan was charged with three counts, including aggravated assault and violations of oath, although he is said to be cooperating with prosecutors in the case.

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Louisville Police Releases ‘Nearly Blank’ Incident Report Regarding Breonna Taylor

Breonna Taylor (photo courtesy of the Taylor family)
The Louisville Metro Police Department has released a nearly-blank incident report regarding the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor three months ago. From the Louisville Courier-Journal:

The four-page report lists the time, date, case number, incident location and the victim’s name — Breonna Shaquille Taylor — as well as the fact that she is a 26-year-old black female.

The report redacts Taylor’s street number, apartment number and date of birth — all of which have been widely reported already.

And it lists as her injuries, “none,” even though she was shot at least eight times and died on her hallway floor in a pool of blood, according to attorneys for her family.

It lists the charges as “death investigation — LMPD involved” but checks the “no” box under “forced entry,” even though officers used a battering ram to knock in Taylor’s apartment door.

It also lists under the “Offenders” portion of the report the three officers who fired in Taylor’s apartment, fatally shooting her — Sgt. Jon Mattingly, 47; Myles Cosgrove, 42; and Brett Hankison, 44.

Taylor was shot and killed in the early morning hours of March 13 when police officers forced their way into her home due to a ‘no-knock’ warrant related to a drug investigation. Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, has said the couple believed burglars were trying to break into the apartment. Walker fired one shot in defense at what he thought were ‘intruders.’ The officers returned fire striking Taylor 8 times and killing her. The officers were wearing body cameras at the time but had turned them off shortly before arriving at Taylor’s apartment. Last Friday would have been Taylor’s 27th birthday.

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News Round-Up: December 20, 2019

Jim Newman (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Woofy Jim Newman’s words of wisdom for the holidays – “Don’t blend in.” Follow the hunky singer on Instagram here. • Metro: A teenager who attacked a lesbian couple on a night bus because they refused to kiss was sentenced to an eight-month youth referral order (parole), 12 hours’ reparation and ordered to pay £220 in fines and prosecution costs. • NBC News: A Texas grand jury on Friday indicted a former Fort Worth police officer for murder after fatally shooting a young woman who had been babysitting her nephew at home. According to police and body camera footage, the officer didn’t identify himself before shooting and killing the victim through a window. • KIT212: Kenneth rounds up the what’s what in gay publications across the country. • FiveThirtyEight: The four candidates leading the polls nationally and in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg — have qualified for the seventh Democratic debate in January, as well as Sen. Amy Klobuchar who has hit at least 5 percent in just enough polls and her campaign says she has the donors. • Instinct: A woofy bear in the front row of last night’s Democratic debate stole the show for many Twitter gays. • Washington Post: After meeting privately in July 2017 with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin at the G20 summit, Trump grew more insistent that Ukraine worked to defeat him, according to multiple former officials familiar with his assertions. The president’s intense resistance to the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia systematically interfered in the 2016 campaign led many of his advisers to think that Putin himself helped spur the idea of Ukraine’s culpability. • The Gaily Grind: A 14-year-old girl is in the hospital after an Iowa woman struck her with her SUV in a hit-and-run incident resulting in attempted murder charges after the woman behind the wheel said she did it because the teenager is “a Mexican.” • Lip-Sync This: Billy Porter has had quite the year after slaying on the red carpets throughout the awards season, picking up an Emmy, and now snagging a 2nd Golden Globe nomination for his work on the ground-breaking FX series, POSE. But he ain’t done yet! Check out this celebrity lip-sync of his #1 Billboard Dance Club hit, “Love Yourself.” The celebrity lip-sync features Porter’s POSE co-stars MJ Rodriguez, Ryan Jamal Swain, Dyllon Burnside, Jeremy McClain, and Jason A. Rodriguez; Kinky Boots cast and creatives Cyndi Lauper, Jerry Mitchell, Stark Sands, Annaleigh Ashford, Lena Hall, and the Ogunquit Playhouse cast of the smash hit musical; the Broadway cast of Ain’t Too Proud; along with Kelly Ripa, Debra Messing, Lin Manuel Miranda, Patina Miller, Nathan Lee Graham, Miss J, Peppermint, and designer Christian Siriano.

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Police Officer Sentenced To 10 Years For Shooting Death Of Neighbor

Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger, who was found guilty of murder yesterday in the shooting death of her neighbor, Botham Jean, was sentenced to 10 years in prison today. She was facing between 5-99 years in prison. From NBC News:

Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer convicted of murder for fatally shooting her unarmed neighbor in his apartment, was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison.

Guyger, 31, learned her fate after a sentencing hearing that included emotional testimony from the family of the victim, Botham Jean, and revelations that she shared racist and offensive texts and social media posts.

Prosecutors had asked jurors to sentence Guyger to at least 28 years — symbolic because Jean would have turned 28 last Sunday.

Guyger did not testify during her sentencing, but she has the opportunity to appeal the conviction in the unique case, which has gripped the city of Dallas and shattered the idea that law-abiding residents can be safe in their own homes.

The jury was allowed to consider whether Jean’s death was the result of “sudden passion,” which meant Guyger acted in the heat of the moment. It carried a lesser sentence of two to 20 years behind bars.

Guyger shot Jean after walking into his apartment thinking it was hers at the end of a shift. Believing he was a burglar in her home, she shot him while he was armed with just a bowl of ice cream. This stunning moment, between Jean’s brother and Guyger, happened at the sentencing today.

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Police Officer Found Guilty Of Shooting Black Man In His Home

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Police officer Amber Guyger was convicted of murder by a Dallas County jury on Tuesday for fatally shooting Botham Jean in his own apartment last year. According to the Dallas Morning News, the verdict came following five hours of deliberation by the jury. The court now moves to the punishment phase of Guyger’s trial. In Texas, murder carries a sentence of five to 99 years or life in prison. The charge is not eligible for probation. Guyger, 31, fatally shot 26-year-old Jean in his apartment last year. She had said she mistook his apartment for her own and thought Jean, who was sitting on the couch eating ice cream, was a burglar. During testimony, she told the jury she shot Jean because she was ‘scared,’ even though Jean was only armed with a bowl of ice cream. One of the prosecutors asked her during cross-examination if she could have stepped out of the apartment after realizing someone was there and called for backup. She answered, ‘Yes.’ She is the first Dallas officer convicted of murder since the 1970s. On Monday, Judge Tammy Kemp ruled the jury could consider the Castle Doctrine during deliberations. The Castle Doctrine, similar to the Stand Your Ground Law, allows for “using force (even deadly force) in the protection of a home, vehicle, or other property if someone attempts to forcibly enter or remove an individual from the premises.” The judge also allowed the jury to consider manslaughter. According to some legal experts, the judge may have been appeal-proofing the trial outcome by including Castle Doctrine and “mistake of fact.” An appeals court may have more easily overturned the conviction if jurors weren’t allowed to consider both.

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Pittsburgh: Unarmed 17-Year-Old Shot In The Back While Running Away From Police

17-year-old Antwon Rose was shot in the back while running away from police in East Pittsburgh
17-year-old Antwon Rose

A 17-year-old boy in East Pittsburgh is dead after being shot three times in the back by an officer who had been sworn into the police department just hours earlier.

Antwon Rose was killed Tuesday night while fleeing from a car that had been pulled over in connection with an earlier shooting in North Braddock, Pennsylvania, according to WTAE TV.

From the Allegheny County Police Department’s Facebook page:

An East Pittsburgh police officer saw a vehicle matching the description on Grandview Avenue which also had ballistics damage to the rear window. The officer stopped the vehicle near Grandview and Howard Street in East Pittsburgh.

The officer took the driver into custody. While he was putting the driver into handcuffs, two other occupants ran from the car.

One individual ― a 17-year-old male ― was shot by police. He was transported to McKeesport Hospital where he was declared deceased.

According to USA Today, no shots were fired at the officer at the scene. You’ll notice the report doesn’t mention the teen being shot three times in the back.

Allegheny County police Superintendent Coleman McDonough confirmed that Rose was unarmed at the time of the shooting.

The officer involved in the shooting has been placed on leave but not identified.

In a statement to local station WPXI TV, East Pittsburgh Mayor Louis Payne shared that the officer had been sworn into the department only a few hours before the shooting, but clarified the officer was not a rookie having served with other area police departments for seven years.

A petition has been launched calling on Gov. Tom Wolf to require the East Pittsburg Police Deparmtent to wear body cameras at all times.